Google Babel to be available on iOS, Chrome, and Android with cross-platform sync

Rumours of Google's unified, cross-platform Babel messaging service have heated up in recent weeks, ahead of an expected launch at Google I/O this May.

To ease your excitement over Bable, Droid-Life has provided more details about the service, thanks to a leaked list of features allegedly from the folks at Google. The synced notifications, cross-platform conversation, new UI, photo sharing, Google+ Hangouts, and on-the-record chat history that we've been hearing about are all spot-on.

Additionally, Google Bable will be available across all clients, including iOS, Chrome, and Android. It will include a feature by which notifications across devices and platforms will be synced, similar to how Apple treats iMessage.

This is what the apparent feature list is, directly from Google, according to Droid-Life:

- Brand new UI. We’ve designed a new UI that’s applied across all clients and promotes conversations.

- Stay in sync. With just one conversation list and experience across mobile and desktop, everything is always in sync. Install the Chrome app, the Android app, and iOS app.

- Desktop app. Stop playing whack a mole across blinking browser tabs. With the new Chrome app your conversations continue outside of the browser.

- Keep a group conversation going to coordinate with your team, and start a Hangout with a single tap whenever you need to talk face-to-face.

- Be notified…just once. Get notifications on your two phones, tablet, laptop and desktop. Open it on one and watch the others disappear. If you’re actively using your computer or phone we’ll even intelligently notify you on just one of those endpoints. Magic!

- Message more than just text. Add a photo to the conversation and/or send some of the 800+ emoji to your co-workers. Kittens and poop are particularly helpful in explaining complex issues.

- Get nostalgic. Scroll back in time and relive any (on-the-record) conversation, on any device.

- More ways to talk. For the first time we are building a first-class iOS experience. Try out our very early preview on your iPhone or iPod Touch.

Droid-Life further adds that Google Voice support won't be available on Bable directly at launch, but will come to the service at a later date. Instead, Google's Talk, Hangouts, and Messenger will be brought together to kick things off.

This weekTechRadar got its hands on screenshots of Bable running within Gmail. The screenshots didn't seem to show Google going that far away from the interface that's typically been around Google Talk, besides a clean up and new features that are somewhat confirmed from the above list.

Given that Google has been pursuing high-quality iOS apps for close to a year now, its comments about the platform make sense. "For the first time we are building a first-class iOS experience. Try out our very early preview on your iPhone or iPod Touch," the company said. Earlier this year Google began running a web ad promoting its iOS team doing work "that matters."

The release of Bable has yet to be pinpointed. Google is holding its annual Google I/O conference in mid-May at which it's known for introducing its latest and greatest products. We'll keep you covered.

The baby of the Lint team, Jake is responsible for covering the latest news out of the US. He began writing technology news at 15, covering the world of Apple for several publications. He has a deep interest in the latest gadgets and gizmos. Outside of breaking news, Jake enjoys drumming, music and photography.